


What Stays And What Fades Away

by Nevanna



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Amnesia, Episode: s02e20 Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls, Family, Gen, Missing Scene, Recovered Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 12:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10593609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: With the help of his family, Stan is putting together the pieces of his past... including the reason why he lost his memories in the first place.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The story requires full knowledge of the series. The title is from the song "No Light, No Light" by Florence and the Machine.

Stan dreamt last night of snow swirling outside his car window, the stuttering of the heater, and the pile of blankets that he’d wrapped around himself in the backseat. When he opened his eyes, the present took a few minutes to catch up with him, as he thinks it will for the rest of his life.

_It’s 2012; I’m in my house in Gravity Falls, Oregon_ (it _is_ his house, right? Something about that question keeps bothering him); _and there’s a reason why getting dressed makes me ache in a ridiculous number of places._

Was last night’s dream another stray memory? If it was, how’d he end up stranded in that long-ago storm? 

He’s pretty sure that the kitchen, like the rest of the house, has seen better days. The stove and the fridge still don’t work, he doesn’t want to look too hard at some of the stains on the floor, and he doesn’t know if anything worth eating has survived the recent disaster. 

His grandniece has been peering into the cabinets, and she spins around as soon as she hears his footsteps. She immediately chirps, “Morning, Grunkle Stan!” but her eyes are wide with uncertainty.

“G’morning, Mabel.” She relaxes a little bit when she hears him use her name. “Where’d everyone else disappear to?”

Mabel reaches into one of the cabinets and triumphantly holds aloft a stack of paper plates. “Dipper’s still asleep,” she says, “and Soos is on a supply run, and Ford is trying to dig up some old pictures and stuff from when you guys were kids.” She grins. “I can’t wait to see what you looked like a million years ago!”

“Not quite a million years, kiddo. Nice try.” Stan rubs his knuckles back and forth across the top of her head. “Looks like I still remember how to give noogies,” he says as she squeals with laughter.

Once she’s calmed down, she asks, “Have you remembered anything else yet? Do you have questions?”

“A few, but one of them is bugging me more than all the others put together.” Stan scratches the back of his neck. “I haven’t figured out how I lost my memories in the first place. In a town like this, the odds are against a knock on the head or good old-fashioned dementia, right?”

Mabel’s smile fades. “Maybe we should talk to Grunkle Ford about that,” she says. “I mean, he was the one who had to…”

_Had to what?_ For a moment, the room is filled with blue fire, that slips through the cracks in the walls and licks at the furniture. Stan blinks, and it’s gone. “What did you say?” 

Mabel holds up her hands. “No, no, it wasn’t what you’re thinking! He didn’t want to do it!” She’s looking over Stan’s shoulder. “Grunkle Ford, tell him what happened!”

Ford strides into the room and sets down the cardboard box he’s been carrying. “Hush, Mabel. We can sort this out.” He puts a hand on Stan’s arm. “Stanley, please listen…”

Stan shrugs him off. “Did you do this to me?” The answer forms in his mind like the speeches that he once fed the unsuspecting suckers who visited this place. His twin has been so _gentle_ and _attentive_ and _sincere_ that Stan didn’t consider whether Ford might be holding something back. _Who’s the unsuspecting sucker now?_

“You’re jumping to conclusions. Your mind is still…” Ford sighs. “All right, that was the wrong thing to say. Let me start over.” He guides Stan to a seat, pulls up another chair beside him. “You’re not wrong to blame me for the loss of your memories, but I want you to understand the circumstances before you decide how to feel or what to do. Do you remember where we were when we talked it over?”

Stan blinks, and for a moment, they’re surrounded by glowing bars. “In a cage,” he says slowly. “You agreed to switch places with me.” He was trembling as he pulled Ford’s turtleneck over his head, tied his shoes, tried to imitate his voice, and he shivers again now. “I shook hands with someone… some _thing_ …” The monstrous triangle looms in front of them, and Stan shakes his head until it vanishes. “Something that was going to hurt the kids. Right?”

Mabel is squeezing his hand tightly in both of hers. Ford leans toward him, saying stuff like “Deep breaths, Stanley,” and “Take your time,” and “We’ll go through this together.”

And they do just that. Stan closes his eyes as he speaks, and lets the pressure of his brother’s and his niece’s hands keep him firmly grounded as the blue flames fill his head. _I won't lose myself again._ “I punched that demon right in his big creepy eye,” he says at last. “That was pretty badass, wasn’t it?”

“It sure was.” Mabel flings her arms around his shoulders. “You saved us all.”

“And he’s gone for good, right?” Stan asks. “He ain’t going to pop through some door in my head and yell ‘boo’ when we least expect it?”

“Well…” Ford removes his glasses and carefully polishes them on his sleeve. “For now, let’s just concentrate on putting your past back together. We can worry about the future later.”

“Whatever you say, Poindexter.” Stan rests his chin on Mabel’s head and stares into the corners of the room. He considers the empty and half-constructed spaces in his mind, and the monsters that are still hiding just out of sight.


End file.
